A complete rewrite of the installer. New interface, the game is now downloaded from Steam by the installer itself, and a single new steam_api64.dll replaces the old three-tool patching process.
Nothing needs to be installed first. The download is one self-contained executable with the .NET runtime bundled inside it.
New in this release:
- Completely new interface, rebuilt in WPF, with one screen per step
- The installer talks to Steam itself using SteamKit2, rather than shipping and driving DepotDownloader.exe. There is no console window, no downloader written to disk, and your details go from the sign-in box to Steam and nowhere else
- Steam Guard is asked for on the sign-in screen instead of a separate dialog
- steam_api64.retro replaces the Goldberg Emulator and Steamless combination. It answers the Steamworks calls these builds make and unwraps the SteamStub DRM in memory as the game loads, so NMS.exe is never rewritten on disk and the original steam_api64.dll is kept as a .bak
- Each version gets its own Steam ID (109, 113, 124 and 138), so savegames can never collide. SmartSaveFolder is no longer needed and has been removed
- Game language can now be picked during setup, from the fourteen languages these builds support
- The "mods enabled" warning screen at boot is now disabled
- Discoveries are routed to discoveries.nomansskyretro.com
- RetroShaderFix is always applied during setup, it is no longer a question. RetroShaderFixGUI is still bundled in the Extras folder if you want to rerun it by hand
- New launcher, placed in the install folder and added to the Desktop and to the Start menu under No Man's Sky Retro
- Per-file progress in the install log during the download, and a progress bar that follows it
- Dark title bar when Windows is set to dark mode
The installer is now released under the GPL-3.0, because its depot download derives from DepotDownloader.